


Dauntless

by wiltedlettuce



Series: Harry Potter Fragment Fics [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cedric Diggory Lives, Except When We Don't, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read, we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 06:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12699171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiltedlettuce/pseuds/wiltedlettuce
Summary: Cedric Diggory survives the Fourth Task thanks to Harry, who managed to thwart Voldemort once again. The seventh year finds himself insatiably curious about the boy who saved his life, and finds so much more to the boy-who-lived than he had presumed. Fearless and Good, had been what the storybooks and tales painted him out to be. Looking closer, Cedric sees exhaustion, determination, fury, and so much talent that he can’t help the twinge of envy in his chest.(Cedric Diggory's attempts to befriend and then, eventually, woo one Harry Potter.)





	Dauntless

**Author's Note:**

> Another ridiculously self-indulgent fic that is the result of procrastinating in my studies. Don't expect too much from this, please!

Harry grew up with dirt under his nails and blood in his mouth.

He knew what hard work was, and what it was worth. He had spent hours slaving away in the heat of summer to make Aunt Petunia’s garden always just that small bit better than the neighbors’. From the minute he could be trusted by himself in the kitchen, he spent an hour three times a day cooking what Uncle Vernon called good, traditional English meals, the heat from the stove making him roll up his oversized sleeves as high as they would go.

And pain was nothing new, either. He had made sure his scores were always average, calculations for his teachers’ grading curves flying through his brain every time he received a new assignment, lest he get a slap to the face or a punch in the gut for showing Dudley up. Harry Hunting was still the favorite pastime of Little Whinging’s growing gang, and as their numbers grew, the more often Harry would limp home with bruises and loose teeth.

A childhood built on survival was what Harry had, so when that eerily familiar voice hissed out _kill the spare_ , he reacted, years of ingrained instinct to avoid and duck and weave allowing him to be just that much quicker than Pettigrew in his spellwork. A snarled _expelliarmus_ , his best spell besides his _Patronus_ , sent the rat’s wand flying into Harry’s hand. The strange wand, so different from his own Holly and Phoenix Feather, resisted his magic at first, but Harry was nothing if not bull-headedly determined.

_Stupify!_

Wormtail dropped, the hissing, screeching bundle of what Harry was pretty sure was Voldemort’s latest shade falling with him. Wormtail’s body was frozen, but Voldemort writhed and wriggled, voice hissing for Nagini to come to his aid.

Harry shot a look back at Cedric, who seemed just as stunned as the rat, body swaying slightly and his face bloodless.

“Cedric!” Harry snapped, “Get your wand!”

The other boy jerked in shock but gathered himself enough to nod shakily before running to where Wormtail had flung his wand once he had seen the so-called spare. Harry kept his eyes peeled for a snake, damn near certain that that would be the only creature Voldemort would allow as his familiar.

Sure enough, Harry spotted a nauseatingly massive snake making its way towards him, the drag of its body against the ground carrying a very distinct sound. It was the type of noise Harry would never forget, not after the disaster that was the Chamber of Secrets. Luckily, this Nagini was barely a fraction of the size of the basilisk, and Harry was confident in his ability to kill this snake without the aid of Fawkes. Another snarled spell spilled from his lips, the force of the incantation bending Wormtail’s wand to his will.

_Bombarda!_

The smell of guts was far from pleasant, and Harry could distantly hear Cedric retching somewhere behind him under the pained screams of the bundle still held awkwardly in Wormtail’s frozen arms. Harry began to stalk towards it, the constant bubble of anger that’s always sat low in his chest rising. He contemplated doing to Voldemort’s latest vessel as he did his familiar, but Cedric’s panicked voice drew him away.

“Harry! We have to go!”

Harry looked back, slightly annoyed at the older boy. He had been mostly deadweight in this, but Harry couldn’t blame him, not entirely. It wasn’t his fault that Voldemort was a persistent bastard, and he was certainly blameless in being dragged along. But it would have been nice to have someone older than him actually be competent for once in the face of danger.

Harry pursed his lips to hide his snarl, Hermione’s voice in his head reminding him of human decency and manners. He glared one last time at the prone body of Wormtail, tempted to take on the apparating Death Eaters just to have the chance of dragging the rat in front of the Minister and demanding Sirius be acquitted. But again, Cedric yelped his name, fear clear in his voice, and Harry gave in.

He ran towards the older boy, snatched him by the arm, and curled a hand around one of that damned goblet’s handles. It was what had brought them here, and Harry was nearly completely certain that it would be what could take them back. Sure enough, they were back in the maze, the familiar swirl of nausea roiling in Harry’s gut at the abrupt change.

The stunned spider was still there, all of its eyes glazed in the way dazed things did. Keeping a firm grip on Cedric’s arm, lest the other boy pass out, Harry used Wormtail’s wand to shoot up electric blue sparks. Immediately after, the barrier erected around the maze shimmered as it faded, and a roar of applause could be heard from the outside.

The heavy weight of Cedric against his side had Harry grimacing, but he held on all the same. He reminded himself that this was probably a regular, normal reaction to facing something traumatizing, and that _he_ was the one who was the anomaly here, not Cedric.

The trudge back to the entrance was slow-going, and Harry was thankful that the hedges had receded to forge a straight path to where the crowd awaited with eager cheers to see just which Hogwart’s champion had won. Taking quick stock of them, Harry knew that they looked less than impressive, but he really didn’t give a damn right now. He was eager to get to Hermione and Ron and get to planning and preparing for when Voldemort eventually made another attempt at him.

He held no doubts that the bastard would get another body, whether by completing whatever strange potions ritual he had obviously planned on in the graveyard or by some other dubious means. Harry just wanted to be ready for when that day inevitably came.

**Author's Note:**

> Will be written in swapping POVs - this one obviously in Harry's. Characters will probably be OOC because I haven't read canon in years and I really don't care to keep to it.


End file.
